The UK Home Office said 32,059 asylum seekers were living in hotels at the end of June, 8% more than a year earlier but 43% fewer than the record 56,042 reached in September 2023. The total is also marginally lower than the 32,345 recorded in March, suggesting hotel use has plateaued in recent months. The figures were released with the department’s quarterly immigration update, which showed 111,000 people claimed asylum in the 12 months to June, a 14% increase on the previous year and the highest annual total since comparable records began in 2002. Half of applicants arrived via irregular routes, the Home Office said. Labour, in office since July 2024, has pledged to end the use of hotels for asylum accommodation by the end of the current Parliament. Ministers point to faster processing of claims as key to reducing hotel occupancy, while conceding that numbers remain above the level they inherited. Political pressure intensified after the High Court this week granted an injunction preventing the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, from being used to house migrants. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch urged local authorities to mount similar challenges, and councils in Tamworth, Wirral and other areas said they were studying the ruling. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called hotel accommodation a ‘mistake’ and advocated Rwanda-style offshore processing as a deterrent to Channel crossings.